Dangote, 61, said he’s waiting for Nigerian elections in early 2019 and a sell-off in emerging markets to pass before starting an initial public offering of Dangote Cement Plc. He spoke at an interview at the New Economy Forum in Singapore.

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 07: Tayo Oviosu

Jamarlin Martin catches up with Tayo Oviosu at SXSW 2018. Oviosu is the Founder and CEO of Paga, the leading mobile payments company in Nigeria.

Dangote got rich off his cement business, and now he has interests in milling, agriculture, real estate and fertilizer.

He hopes to address the long-standing problems in Nigeria’s energy markets, which include an abundant supply of crude oil but no way to refine it. That means the country is reliant on foreign markets for expensive refined fuel. Nigeria has been crippled by fuel shortages.

FILE – In this photo taken, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012 Nigerian billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote attends a global business environment meeting in Lagos, Nigeria. Forbes magazine says Dangote, a Nigerian tycoon who built his empire on commodities like flour, sugar and cement, is Africas richest man. Dangote topped the Forbes list published this week for the second year running. According to Forbes, he has a net worth of $12 billion. (Ap Photo/Sunday Alamba, file)

Dangote has an oil refinery under construction in Lagos that will be the largest in the world when completed. He says it’s on track to produce fuel in 2020 — a date that has been disputed.

Dangote, who built his fortune on cement, told Reuters in July that he hoped to finish building the refinery in 2019 and to start production in early 2020. However sources who have been on the site many times told Reuters they don’t expect gasoline or diesel output before 2022 and even then, the refinery and petrochemical plant won’t be complete.

Dangote Group Executive Director Devakumar Edwin, who oversees the project, insisted that production start as late as 2022 is an unlikely scenario and the product of “someone’s wild imagination”.

“Ninety-five percent of engineering has been completed, 90 percent of procurement has been completed,” Edwin told Reuters.

The refinery’s petroleum products will compete with imports from Europe, Middle East and India, Dangote Oil Refinery Company said, according to Punch.Ng. The 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery is expected to boost Nigeria’s growth and turn the country from an importer of refined products into an exporter, transforming global trade patterns.

Dangote didn’t say how much he wants to raise or how much of the company he will sell. About 15 percent of Dangote stock is already listed in Lagos, with a $9.6 billion market value.

The richest man in Africa for the seventh year in a row, Dangote has a net worth of $12.2 billion. That’s up $100 million from a year ago, Forbes reported in January.

In July, Dangote took out a $650 million loan from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for his oil refinery
project, Vanguard reported. The price tag of the refinery is around $10 billion. The company is borrowing $3.3 billion for the project, arranged by Standard Chartered Bank. The balance will be funded by equity and through export agencies.

The refinery and petrochemical complex is located on 61,000 acres of swampy land with a jetty to ferry products by sea within Nigeria and abroad including an undersea pipeline to transport gas. When completed, it will account for half of
Dangote’s assets, according to Vanguard.

Dangote plans to meet local demand for refined petroleum products and also target export markets abroad.

Standard Chartered and Bank of America Merrill Lynch could be among the official bankers for the 2019 London public listing of Dangote Cement, Business Insider reported.